Growth, innovation and advisor success continue to define The Travel Agent Next Door. From strong sales in 2026 to the expansion of its luxury division and the rollout of new AI-powered technology, TTAND is continuing to invest in tools and training designed to help its advisors thrive. At the same time, interest in becoming a travel advisor has never been higher, making quality education and support more important than ever. For this edition of Take 5, we spoke with TTAND founder and CEO Flemming Friisdahl about the host agency’s latest initiatives and what advisors can expect in the months ahead.

1. The travel industry is once again in ‘interesting’ times. Some travellers are hesitant to book – while others are forging ahead and booking increasingly higher value, longer and more complex trips. How are sales and bookings so far in 2026?

“The unfortunate reality is that ‘interesting times’ is the norm, and what we have to plan for. We have been very fortunate in that our sales continue to be up around 20% and like many travel agents, the consumers seem to still want to book bucket list travel. We also continue to see consumers avoid the USA and the Middle East. Like everything else this will pass, but the trips we are booking are generally higher end product, and longer. With the type of marketing we are pushing this helps the overall numbers!”

2. TTAND launched LUXE by The Travel Agent Next Door last year, to tap into the ever-rising demand for luxury travel. What are TTAND advisors getting out of the program?

“Selling luxury travel is different than selling your more traditional travel, and the training we did went over exceptionally well with the 40+ agents that took the training. Here are two agent comments after doing the training: ‘The group activities were so important to the concepts we were learning. So glad Dr. Paul included these. Homework was interesting.’ and ‘THANK YOU so much for this amazing opportunity. Truly best use of my time and investment and I’m ready to take this on in every way!’

“I believe that if we don’t keep changing and evolving, we will not continue to be number one, and luxury travel is a very important step as we continue to grow The Travel Agent Next Door.”

3. Are there any new developments with TTAND’s equity partnership with Travel Counsellors?

“HECK YES!!! This was the number one reason we did this equity partnership – the technology that TTAND has is different than what Travel Counsellors has, and they complement each other. Meaning we will shortly be launching a great new program called PHENIX and this program is about dynamic packaging and allowing our agent partners to maximize the profit opportunities. This system can do everything from looking at past travel and then through AI give the partner agent suggestions on their next vacation. Also by telling the system what you are looking for, it can put together a complete itinerary from A to Z and with real pricing and showing true availability. This is a game changer together with our newly launched itinerary program and information collection tools!”

4. The interest from new-to-industry people looking to become travel advisors is off the charts. Are there any numbers from TTAND that underline the demand – and how does TTAND work to make sure new entrants are equipped for success?

“I would love to see a national standard for becoming a travel agent, when I talk to so-called experienced agents, and they tell me the training they received from another host agency and they paid no fees, well, that should explain the training they received.

“I think it is a shame that some hosts are more looking at having lots of agents, that don’t really sell travel but call themselves travel agents. It is a bit insulting to the truly professional travel agents that are committed to learning what the world has to offer to a traveller.

“So in saying that, we limit the number of new to industry we take on monthly, so we can be sure they receive the support they truly need to support their customers in a professional way.”

5. Conference is huge for TTAND. What can you tell us about the 2027 event, and why is it so beneficial for agents to attend?

“There are a lot of advantages of working from your home – or anyplace in the world where you can pull out your laptop or iPad.  But we all know you grow so much faster when working with other people. Attending conference is one of those must-do things, in my opinion, to meet fellow agents and meet the suppliers. We can ALL learn from each other, and I have always noticed that many of our top performers will attend conference because they want to learn new things and conference is KEY for this and they want to build their community of friends.”